Café Etage: Trio Crispell-Andersson-Østergaard: emotional, very intense

It does not happen often that a world-famous musician in a formation with two younger colleagues subdues herself so suitably, yet with the weight of her exceptional skills. And that's exactly what American pianist Marilyn Crispell did when she joined Danish drummer and composer Michala Østergaard-Nielsen and Swedish bassist Tommy Andersson to form a trio. On Thursday, the trio performed music from their debut album, which will be released at the beginning of November Café floorby the way, the only date on their current tour outside of Scandinavia.

All new pieces are written by Østergaard and have typical titles such as “The Traveler”, “The Road” or “The Cave”. The latter is also the title of the album, which you can already look forward to. The almost crisply arranged pieces create moods so intense and full of intimate emotion that they seem like miniatures despite normal playtime. Between them, the three lightened the atmosphere with adventurous free jazz excursions, which reminded us that Crispell had once held even greats like Cecil Taylor with the respect they deserved in the genre.